Bar Beach Salt Marsh Restoration, Hempstead Harbor

In 2003, NOAA led a partnership that restored a 0.8-acre salt marsh in Bar Beach Lagoon, North Hempstead, New York, as part of a natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) settlement addressing natural resource injury damages due to release of contaminants into Hempstead Harbor. Restoration activities included removing pea gravel and other non-native fill material, physically removing approximately 0.2 acres of invasive common reed (Phragmites australis), and replanting with over 8,000 low and high marsh plugs. Monitoring results suggested a well-established and flowing salt marsh community with fish, benthic, and avian populations comparable to the reference site.